January 21 was finally here, the day I would leave for my adventure at the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was one year ago I attended the pageant to cheer on our then current Miss Minnesota Angie McDermott and now it was my turn.
Of course, I could not sleep because of the excitement of this day finally being here. I was up by 4 AM for my 9 o’clock flight. After all 6 suitcases were packed my Dad and I were off. I was so thankful that my Dad was able to fly with me (he can check his luggage for free!) If I were to check in my bags the cost would have been over $400 dollars, so it was less expense for my Dad just to fly with me. Once I arrived at my gate I saw Miss Wisconsin, Kristina Smaby, she was also on the flight heading to Las Vegas.
When we landed in Las Vegas the Miss America staff and security greeted us, and they treated us like celebrities! We were picked up in Limos and taken to the Planet Hollywood Hotel where we were checked in at the VIP Lounge. I was told my roommate would be Miss Oregon and I was excited to meet her. My room in Planet Hollywood was much larger than the standard hotel room; we had 2 queen size beds, seating area, and two large clothes hanging rack for our entire wardrobe.
After unpacking and getting to know my roommate I had a fitting for my Production Number dress. I also had to bring my entire competition wardrobe for fittings and leave it in the dressing rooms.
Because of the rain that day in Las Vegas we had the Arrival Ceremony inside Planet Hollywood. Each State Contestant was announced and we had an opportunity to introduce ourselves and say a few open remarks. After all the state contestants were introduced the Quality of Life Finalists were announced. I was honored to be announced as a finalist.
The next few days were filled with rehearsals by day, and fun appearances by night. The dance for the opening number was so much fun to learn, and I loved everyone who worked on the dance with us. Barry, the choreographer was from Minnesota, and we instantly connected through our love for the Minnesota, Vikings. His assistants Brian and Stacy were just hysterical and kept the 9-hour rehearsals very entertaining.
Some of my favorite memories from the week were the Fashion Show, the Gondola ride, going to see Phantom of the Opera, and the Pole Position Raceway.
At the fashion Show we rode in a glass cube elevator that started in the basement of the mall and all 53 contestants rode it up to the runway which also rose up from the floor of the mall. It was really cool!
The night prior we visited the Venetian where we were serenaded by singing gondoliers while riding in Gondolas. Sunday evening we visited the Pole Position Raceway. I am proud to say that I was 2nd to last in my Race, which by the way, shows that Miss Minnesota is a very safe driver despite what anyone else may say! Congratulations to Lindsey Graham, Miss New Hampshire for having the fastest time! She and I became fast friends during the week. She has a great sense of humor and made me laugh all week and we have that” Theater Major” thing in common.
On Monday, Miss North Carolina Katherine and I had our lunch with Miss America, Katie Stam for selling the most Ad pages! It was a nice break for the Spice Market Buffet where we ate every other meal, hummus, anyone? ☺ During the lunch we were able to really hear what the job of Miss America entails, and some of Katie’s favorite moments from the year. Especially her time in spent Germany, and visiting all the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
On Monday evening after a long day of filming for TLC we were treated to a night at the theater. The show “Phantom” is one of my favorite theater shows.
Tuesday was the first day of competition for me, starting with interview. I had the whole morning to get my hair and makeup done and get dressed for my 12 o’clock interview. The 10 minutes in interview just flew by, but I felt very positive about how it all went. There had been so much hype about Rush Limbaugh that I was ready for any question he threw at me. Just like how I was ready for any comment Simon Cowell could throw at me during American Idol. At 21 years old, I can say that I have met both these two icons of our generation.
Tuesday night was the first night of preliminaries where I competed in swimsuit and evening gown. After my 15 seconds on stage for swimsuit, I felt like I had conquered the world. If you can walk on stage, and walk down stairs in 5-inch heels and a swimsuit… you can do anything. After we came off the stage there was a big birthday cake for a couple of the contestants that were celebrating their birthdays at Miss America that week. I think the funniest thing was watching one contestant just walk off stage and go right to the cake and take a big piece and start eating.
During evening gown, I felt like Miss America. I loved my gown. My hair looked amazing thanks’ to Rod. He made sure I went on stage looking my best.
That night at the visitation it was such an overwhelming feeling to see friends and family. I know I had only been gone for 5 days, but I felt like I had not seen my parents for months. Those 20 minutes were just what I needed.
Wednesday was the day I had been waiting for since I watched Miss America last year. I set a goal of singing on the Miss America stage at Planet Hollywood (which seats 7000 people) and I was about to achieve that goal. Wednesday morning started out quite early with my Quality of Life interview. This Interview was much more relaxed and the judges were former Miss America’s including Kirsten Haglund, and Heather French Henry. Then it was off to talent rehearsal! The first run through of my song was interesting. It was not the perfect performance I wanted, but it allowed me to warm up to the stage, and sound quality. Thank goodness for Vicki Kueppers, and her confidence in me. During the 5-minute meeting I had with her, she knew exactly what to say to make me perform. The second time I sang that morning, it felt much more like me.
Now I know I said in a blog earlier that when I sang the National Anthem at the Vikings Game that was the most nervous I had ever been. Take that nervousness and multiply it by 100 and that is how I felt before my Miss America talent. The moment I walked on the Miss America stage, it all went away. All I could do was sing. For the 90 seconds I had on the stage, I gave my song everything I had. I didn’t just sing I performed. It was the best performance I have ever given.
Even though I did not win my Talent Preliminary, I knew that I could not have performed it any better. Sometimes it’s not about being awarded for a job well done, but rather being proud of yourself for what you have accomplished.
By the time Thursday night Preliminary came around I already had 95% of my scoring done. My onstage Question was a no-brainer. They asked a platform Question, and I knew nothing could stump me. Unfortunately Thursday’s prelim ran quite long, and most of us girls did not get to bed until 1:30 AM! That night I also found out I had a 6AM radio interview… Friday I was running on 3 hours of sleep.
Friday morning I had an early radio interview with KTCO in Duluth. I had the opportunity to talk about Children’s Miracle Network and also my time in Las Vegas. The rest of the day we filmed for the live telecast of Miss America. If you watched, before and after commercials they would play short video clips of the contestants hanging out around Planet Hollywood. We started filming at 7 AM, and during any down time you would find most of us sleeping in chairs or couches. At one point while we were filming outside by the pool, Miss Missouri Tara and I were dead asleep on the pool chairs. They even gave us robes to stay warm!
Friday evening we had off from competition and attended the Evening of Dreams Event. My parents and some family also attended, and it was wonderful to see them during dinner. The event highlighted Katie Stam’s Year, and also had special performances by former Miss America’s including our very own Dorothy Benham! The most exciting part of the evening…Watching Katie Stam be proposed to by her boyfriend of 4 years. I can always say that I was there when Miss America 2009 became engaged!
Friday was also the night when the one-hour TLC special aired about Miss America. All 53 contestants rushed up to our rooms to catch as much of the show as possible. I will be honest and say I was quite disappointed in how the show made us look. I wish that the focus had been on what we as contestants had accomplished with our platforms and with volunteering for Children’s Miracle Network. These are the things that separate us from the other pageants; it is what makes us elite. The Miss America Program is not about who has the best swimsuit walk, or best pageant trick. It should be about the young women making a difference in their community, why was that not showcased on the show? I would have liked to have seen Miss New Hampshire’s platform issue Loud and Sound: Speaking Out for mental Illness show cased. She helped organize a successful fund-raiser for the organization held at the Sheraton in Boston with over 500 attendees. Lindsey also produced and directed a television program on mental health. Or how about our Quality of Life winner Taylor Treat, Miss Oklahoma. Seven years after being the product of service learning in her high school, Taylor spent the year focusing on reaching students from over 150 Oklahoma schools to spread the word about service learning.
Saturday still seems like it flew by. We arrived in the dressing room by 9 AM and stayed there all day. The day was full of rehearsals and then 2 full hours of preparing for the pageant. I could not believe how quiet it was in the dressing room while girls were getting ready. Miss Missouri, Tara and I snuck away to go spray tan one another in the Theatre’s bathroom. Some girls practiced their talents by the dumpsters, or did sit-ups by the snack table. Once the show started, there was no turning back.
After they called the last contestant for top 15, I was disappointed. Most girls at this point would start questioning what they could have done better, not me. I knew I could not have performed any better.
You can have the perfect dress, the perfect body, the perfect talent, and the perfect interview and still not come out as Miss America. I learned that this program is not about winning the title of Miss America, it’s about making yourself the best you can be. They only pick one Miss America. There are only 90 total, but there will also only 79 Miss Minnesota’s. I’m in a small group of women, some of them had the success of becoming Miss America like Bebe Shopp, Dorothy Benham, and Gretchen Carlson. I am also with a small group of women, to name a few, Jo Bender, Vicki Kueppers, Jennifer Ostegaard and Lauren Green who didn’t win the title of Miss America and still achieved incredible things in their lives.
For those of you who say I "should of": I "should of" wore a different dress, different color dress, higher shoes, I "should of" changed my hair, longer hair, shorter hair, "should of" wore different makeup, been tanner, gain weight, lose weight, had more muscle, "should of" listen to your advice...
I went to Miss America the best I could be and I am proud of that.
I have no regrets about my Miss America experience. It is another experience that will help me grow as a performer, and as a person.
One of the best things I took away from my Miss America adventure was the friendships I developed. I have talked to Miss Missouri, Tara every day since I have been home. Miss Iowa, Anne and I both went to school in Boston (granted she went to Harvard….) but we instantly connected through our love for the city of Boston. Miss New Hampshire, Lindsey is a performer as well, and we have a lot in common and had fun all week.
Thank you to all my supporters who came from Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, and Texas to cheer me on. It was so much fun to have you there in the audience and at the visitations. It truly meant a lot to me knowing you were there.
So before I end and head off to my dance rehearsal for Minnesota Celebrity dancing with the stars. I want to share with you this last little funny story about Miss America.
After the Saturday night pageant it was the parent’s job to find someone to go and pick up the contestants suitcase from the dressing room tent. So my Mom decided she and my older brother Mike would go and pick it up so my Dad could help my Grandmothers up to the visitation. Mike and my Mom were one of the first people back to the tent and unfortunately no Miss America staff was anywhere around to give them instructions. So they and a couple other parents saw the suitcases, picked up the correct one and my brother delivered it to our hotel room and they were done. They then joined us at the visitation and award ceremony. This is where I received my non-finalist talent award! So during the visitation I asked my Mom “Did you pick up my stuff from the dressing room?” She said “yes we put the suit case in our hotel room”. Then I asked did you pack up my crown and sash? My Mom looked confused? That is when she realized that they were supposed to go in and pack up my stuff, that the suit case was actually empty. She thought that I had packed it up during the show and the suitcases were all packed ready for them to grab. My brother and my mom ran back down to the Theater into to the tent area to find an empty tent with no one around to ask for help.
Which meant my entire competition wardrobe, makeup, crown and sash, and hair products were missing! But most important of all, I realized my cell phone was in my crown box ☺ After searching the hotel for a hostess, my brother saved the day by contacting the bellhop and found my things. I was glad to see a few other states down there as well, picking up there missing things including Miss Puerto Rico, who I had my first conversation with. We joked about the entire evening, and she said "we should have been up there on that stage tonight" I agreed.
So that is how my Miss America adventure ended.
Always,
Brooke
On the table in the middle of the room was a welcome card, newspaper story on my appearance, gift basket with their famous wild rice, and a purse with my initials! I later found out the purse was hand made by a committee members sister! 
